End of the mobile phone blackspots

Culture Secretary Sajid ­Javid wants a national roaming system where firms have to allow users to swap networks if they lose signal.

The sweeping reforms will see phone companies share phone masts with calls being transferred to the nearest mast even if it is run by a rival phone firm.

The reforms have been driven by changes in the EU which will bring in free roaming from 2016.

It will mean an improved service for people who live in or are visiting the countryside. But critics say foreign visitors will jump between networks for free while UK citizens will not.

Phone giants have been reluctant to agree on sharing masts as they have shelled out for the cost of erecting them.

A Culture Department spokesman said the changes were part of its investment for the UK’s long-term economic plan. A spokesman said: “We are investing up to £150million to improve mobile phone coverage from any network operator.”

David Cameron said Downing Street was a notorious mobile phone blackspot and he was also fed-up with coverage in his Witney, Oxon, constituency.